Since i have not yet decided on what paint color i want on The Dog, i tried my best to gather as many pics of Charmant in various colors as possible to help me decide. These are what i managed to gather so far. Can you help me decide?
Black, my original color and also Ryoji Takada's Champagne Gold or Poo Gold or whatever Gold Bright Blue Errmm.. Light Blue? Deep Blue? Gimme a break.. I don't work in Spies Hecker factory.. Maroon Red This, i like to call it Blood Red Purplish Red Gray or Silver, never able to tell the difference.. Goblin Yohann White.. Hehe.. Hi there Yohann! Last comes what i like to call WTF color.. Black looks very interesting now.. I don't have to report any color change to the Department of Transportation and who knows, one day i'll get a hold on a set of 15 inch Work Equip 03s and Voila! ... another Ryoji Takada's Charmant replica..
Razo Horn Knob Volt + Amp Meter I bought the Razo horn knob because the original Sparco horn knob that came with my steering wheel would no longer fit since i also put a quick release hub. I decided to buy the volt + amp meter also because it was sold by the same seller and offered with a good price.
I copied this from an original Parts Catalogue owned by a sparepart shop owner in Jakarta. Although i don't own a Corolla, I did it because it has part numbers on all smallport 4A-GE parts, the exact same engine i am planting on The Dog. Very useful since i can't bring a sample of the parts i need for the engine to the shop because it's not there in the first place..
This catalogue basically covers all parts you can think of in a 6th generation Toyota Corolla (E90), starting from engine, electrical, undercarriage, body parts, lamps, etc. See here for details on this Corolla generation. If your Corolla's production year is in between 1987 and 1991, most probably it's covered here.
Any parts for a 6th-gen 4-door sedan, 5-door liftback and station wagon Corollas can be found on this catalogue. Engines covered are 2E, 4A-F, 4A-FE, 4A-GE and 1C diesel.
Please excuse the quality of the sample pics because i took them using a cellphone camera. There are three languages in one catalogue: English, French and Spanish. It's 1200 pages thick and weighs around 2kg (this is a very rough guess, taken by comparing it to a 500gr pack of peanuts.. LOL).
Interested? Selling price is US$30. Send email to me at edgaraja@yahoo.com for inquiries and orders..
This is my other ride, a Honda Tiger 2000 '97. It has 200cc carb'd single cylinder capacity and i think it produces around 17 HP. It is useful on those times when i feel lazy confronting Jakarta's traffic jams, allowing me to maneuver in tight spaces, or on those short distance cruises. I did some upgrades to it, some of them that i remember are:
1. Replaced tail light, rear body panels and passenger handlebar with latter 2003 model. 2. Replaced the standard spoke wheels with wider cast wheels that come with bigger front disk brake. 3. Replaced the battery with maintenance free type
For those who care, below are some specs i managed to gather: * Length x Width x Height 1.990 x 742 x 1.035 mm * Wheelbase 1.330 mm * Lowest Ground Clearance 145 mm * Weight 123 kg * Diamond-type Chassis * Front hydraulic disk brake, double piston * Rear drum brake * Telescopic front suspension * Double adjustable rear shock breaker * Fuel tank capacity 13 liters * 4-stroke OHC air cooled * Piston Diameter x Stroke 63,5 x 62,2 mm * Cylinder Volume 196,9 cc * Compression Ratio 9,0 : 1 * Max Power 16,4 PS / 8.500 RPM * Max Torque 1,62 kgf.m / 6.500 RPM * Oil Capacity 1 Liter * Manual multiplated clutch * 6 speed transmission system * Gear Operating Pattern 1-N-2-3-4-5-6 * Electric and Pedal Starter * 12 V - 7 Ah Battery * ND X 24 FS - U9 / NGK DP8 EA-9 Spark Plug * CDI-AC Ignition System, Magneto
I already planned some more upgrades to it. Once i finished The Dog project, i'll focus my next project on it. Some of the upgrades i have planned are replacing the front suspension with upsidedown type, rear disk brake and maybe some oil cooler + electric fan. I don't want to work on the engine since it's already powerful enough for daily cruise around Jakarta. Besides, i don't want to risk reliability and comfort by modding the engine. I'll have The Dog for those times when i feel the need for speed.
Here are some more pics.. Right now it's just sitting in my house in Jakarta, used only when i am back to Jakarta. I'm thinking of having it shipped to where i work currently. What do you think?
During my holiday in Jakarta, i managed to finish the design for my dashboard panel. I encountered a problem which reminded me of the most important thing in dashboard panel design: measurement. I found out that day my 3-3/4-inch tachometer is still too wide to be installed inside the panel! I bought the tach online and didn't make sure it will fit to the panel before buying it. So this panel mockup is off to the garbage bin. I also found out that i need to reduce the switches and lamps for aesthetics reason. Below pic shows you the items removed from the design and how the tach is slightly too wide to be placed on the cardboard panel layout. Well i guess i have to put the tachometer somewhere else. After some measuring and pinpointing hole locations.. .. below is the end result of the mockup. Next step is to transfer this design to an aluminum sheet to have the sheet cut following the design. I can only fit five lamps and two toggle switches on the panel. So i decided to remove e-brake or check engine light, depending whether i can get a check engine light working for my ECU or not, and i also remove the fuel pump switch.
I managed to salvage some 1mm thick aluminum sheets from a glass display maker. Now that i got a hold of the aluminum sheet, i think it is slightly too thin to hold those gauges firmly but i decided to give it a go first. If it turns out being too wobbly for the panel, i'll have to find thicker aluminum sheets.
I brought the cardboard mockup and aluminum sheets to a lathe and milling workshop. Sadly, the price they offered was too expensive.. I had no more time to ask other workshop because i had other business to do while in Jakarta. So i guess the aluminum panel will have to wait..
One of the exciting moments of owning an old ride is part hunt. You know, when you need that particular part and no shop has it on stock, you start to cross your fingers, contact here and there and just when you almost gave up, the part you need is on some junkyard a driving distance away. It was there all the time but never crossed your mind before to visit it..
In Yohann Quaziz's case, he really needed a pedal box for his Charmant and unfortunately, it is nowhere to be found in his home country, Israel. I met Yohann in rollaclub.com forum and he mentioned he needed a pedal box that will fit the Charmant and work with the T50 gearbox clutch. Well, lucky you Yohann! The last time i went to Jakarta and visited Parung junkyard, i saw one Charmant there still having its pedal box. Surely it'll work with a T50 since all Charmants here use it!
So, when i went back to Jakarta for the national election day, i visited the junkyard again on Sunday, July 5th to help Yohann out. Other than the pedal box, Yohann also asked me to get the gauge cluster also because his Charmant doesn't have tachometer on the cluster. So here are the pics i gathered during the junkyard visit.
Before.. During the removal of the parts.. That's not me by the way. That's one of the junkyard workers. After.. Now that you see the mess left after the work, these are the stuff that Yohann asked me to get. First is the pedal box. It's a bit rusty but overall it is still in a good working condition. A bit of welding to remove the rusted part would be good but i think it's not really necessary. Here's the gauge cluster. Some of the electrical tracks on the back of the cluster are cut but it has been fixed previously so i think it should work perfectly. I got help from mom to pack those stuff yesterday. To reduce space, i had to unbolt the pedals and retainer spring. Then mom taped them to the box body. She used a lot of old newspaper sheets and styrofoam to secure the stuff. The box we used to pack the stuff is a bit too small so you can see a part of the pedal box protruding out. I don't think that would be a problem since it's metal and it won't break easily. Here's the result of the packing. When i tried to weigh it using a body scale we have at home, it measured around 6 kg. There's a FedEx agent nearby my home so i went there to check the price. Damn, it was very expensive. For example, sending a 5kg package to Israel costs you US$300. You need to add 1% VAT and 6.5% fuel surcharge. In total, you need to pay US$322.5! I took a picture of the price list.. Click pic below for better view. Well, although i won't be paying for the cost, Yohann will but i do agree it's too expensive. I promised Yohann to check the price on smaller companies. I'll also check our local governmental post office. Unfortunately, today is holiday for our national election day and tomorrow i already have to leave Jakarta and get back to work. Hence, i promised Yohann, the soonest i can check the price again is sometime around end of the month when i get back to Jakarta again.. Be patient, bro!
Apparently Yohann is also into drifting with his Charmant like my friend Stanley. His Charmant is left hand driven, white and 4K-powered. He's planning to swap the engine to Red Top 4A-GE, just like me. Because it's an auto, he had to buy a T50 gearbox and a pedal box to match. He uploaded some videos of him drifting. You can see his uploads here. Here's a video of him drifting. Pretty cool drift considering he's still on open diff! I guess the rain really helped on the slide, eh Yohann? LOL i'm like watching a video of Stanley drifting! Their Charmant look almost the same!
